CULTURAL HERITAGE UNDER ATTACK: Egbe Omo Oyo Rejects Makinde’s Oba and Chiefs Council Bill
OFFICIAL COMMUNIQUE
We, the Egbe Omo Oyo Niwa Nitooto at home and in the diaspora, on this 19th of January, 2026, categorically reject the so-called Oba and Chiefs Council bill recently passed by the Oyo State Government.
This bill, attributed to the Makinde administration, is an assault on history, a distortion of Yoruba political order, and an act of cultural vandalism. The proposed rotational chairmanship between the Alaafin of Oyo, the Olubadan of Ibadan, and the Soun of Ogbomosho is a political fabrication with zero historical legitimacy.
Let it be stated plainly: tradition is not democratic, and history does not rotate.
The Council of Obas is not a political playground to reward influence or manufacture parity. It is a sacred institution anchored in hierarchy, conquest, authority, and lineage. Any attempt to equalise it by legislation is intellectual dishonesty.
History does not lie.
Oyo was an empire.
The Alaafin was its apex.
Ibadan and Ogbomosho were military outposts that rose within the political shadow of Oyo. The Olubadan’s lineage within the council itself traces back to a chieftaincy elevated through Oyo’s imperial authority. These are facts, not opinions, and no executive signature can erase them.
To legislate equivalence where history established supremacy is to declare war on Yoruba identity.
We reject the dangerous idea that political power can amend cultural truth. Government may rule for a term; history rules forever.
The primacy of the Alaafin of Oyo is settled, sacred, and non-negotiable. This is not a power struggle, it is a refusal to allow the mutilation of our heritage under the guise of reform.
We therefore demand the immediate repeal of this bill and urge the government to return to historical discipline and cultural restraint.
Oyo does not negotiate its history.
Oyo does not rotate its crown.
Oyo stands.
Abbas Ayomide O. (Asiwaju)
General Secretary, Oyo Niiwa nitooto